Phytoplankton of the northern coastal and shelf waters of the Yucatan Peninsula, southeastern Gulf of Mexico, Mexico

Abstract

Based on long-term monitoring (2001-2012) and four oceanographic cruises (2010-2012) in the coastal and shelf waters of the Yucatan Peninsula, SE Gulf of Mexico, a list of 306 strictly phytoplanktonic and tychoplanktonic species from 131 genera is presented: centric diatoms (83 species), raphid diatoms (47), araphid diatoms (22), Dinoflagellata (124), Cyanoprokaryota (18), Ebriacea (2), Chlorophyceae (3), Dictyochophyceae (2), Euglenophyceae (2), Cryptophyceae (1), Prymnesiophyceae (1), and Raphidophyceae (1). Diatoms also dominated the number of genera (80) followed by dinoflagellates (39) and cyanobacteria (11). The genera most abundant in species were Chaetoceros Ehrenb. (23 species), Protoperidinium Bergh (23) and Ceratium Schrank (17). The relative richness in species of the genus Oxytoxum (11 species) is related to the tropical affiliation of the phytoplankton community. Most of the tychoplanktonic diatoms (57 species out of a total of 152 diatoms, or 37.5%) were observed principally from coastal samplings. Eighteen potentially toxic species were found.